


Everything you can imagine is real

by Better_Than_Chocolate



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:31:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Better_Than_Chocolate/pseuds/Better_Than_Chocolate
Summary: “Quite a mess, right?” Someone said suddenly and Alec almost jumped. He didn’t realise someone joined him. Like he went deaf for a few minutes. And blind. Apparently. The man next to him was breathtakingly beautiful.“What?” He blurred out and banged his head in an imaginary brick wall straight away.Nice one Alec, that is exactly how an idiot with zero intelligence would answer.“The painting “the man pointed towards the picture with his hand covered in rings “is a bit of a mess.” He looked at Alec waiting for a response.“Well..I..uh.. I don’t.. I don’t think it’s a mess.” He stuttered out finally. He really begged for the ground to open up and swallow him. Like now.“And why is that?” The man asked with a playful smile and didn’t break the eye contact. His eyes were gorgeous.Alec took a deep breath. He needed to get his shit together if he wasn’t planning to humiliate himself any further.“It might looks like it, but I believe there is something more hiding in this than just a big clutter.”“How so?”“Well…It might be just me.. but I see feelings, emotions in it.” He licked his lips and broke his gaze from the picture and looked at the man next to him.





	1. A piece of art

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> I don't have much to say just yet. :)  
> Enjoy!

“Hey big bro.. time to go, Jace is doing my head. He texted like 4 times already asking where we are...” Alec could hear his sister shouting from the kitchen, probably all ready to roll on, only waiting for him.

He lazily stood up to grab his belongings, phone, wallet and some chew gum from the bedside table before he left the comfort of his room. Its normally him who needs to wait for his two siblings to get ready. He can’t recall of a single time when Izzy had to wait for him. Well there is obviously a first time for everything. Truth to be told he really really didn’t want to go. Like at all. That was the main reason he wasn’t so keen on to get going.

Not as he had any problems with hanging out with his siblings. On the contrary, he loved spending time with them. In his apartment. In his tiny comfort zone which provided safety and peace for him in the last few years since the three of them decided to move apart.

They used to live in an apartment bought by their parents right after they finished uni. Izzy got a degree in biomolecular science, Jace got his in nutrition and food studies with sports management and Alec did business studies. He was the only one who was stupid enough to follow their parents’ career path. Not as they ever asked him to do so, he just wanted to make them happy and proud. Or maybe he felt like he owned them this much in case they found out that he is gay. To be honest he never saw himself as a business man. He loved archery, photography and always wanted to travel.

After graduating he quickly joined a company but almost handed in his resignation after the third week. There was no way he would sit in an office for the rest of his life, it was too dull, too mundane even for him but for the time being he hadn’t got much choice. He had to pay the bills and had to eat something. As much as he hated it, he hated the idea of asking his parents for help or moving back to his siblings even more.

The thing is Alec had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.

Izzy was working at the NYPD as a forensic pathologist. Her job is sort of a taboo. Not because there is anything wrong with it, at the start it wasn’t. But then they quickly realized that Izzy had this perfect timing to start to talk about dissecting dead bodies during meal times. So Jace and him decided to put an end to it before it even starts to become a habit. He can never look at meatballs again the same way.

Jace’s job – thank god – doesn’t involve dead people or anything gross. He is a football coach at one of the colleges. He also does personal training twice a week in the nearby gym. He totally loves what he does and never fails to mention how much women find it attractive. Alec honestly couldn’t care less about the latter. He always knew Jace loves to be sort of a fuck boy and her sister has a reputation of a heart broker. Not as she would be one, she just tends to get bored easily.  
Alec on the other hand has no such thing as love life. Or social life outside his family, Clary and Simon.

“Honest to god I though we’ll never leave.” Izzy said with a sigh once they sat in the car. She started to play with the radio as soon as Alec started the engine. He preferred no music in the car, but her sister simply ignored that and was switching the channels until she landed on some popular top hit shit and started to sing along.

“You know I love you but you have as much talent for singing as for cooking. And that’s a big zero.” He suffered enough by having to go and his sister wasn’t helping.

“Alec c’mon. Just because you live under a rock it doesn’t mean I have to as well. Plus I love this song.” Alec never even heard of it before but that wasn’t the point here

“First of all, I don’t live under a rock. I do love and listen to music. Two, this song is just so…fake. There are at least a shit loads of others sounding pretty much the same. All about love and needs. Makes no sense.” He said rolling his eyes. He hated all the love songs and it was nothing to do with the fact he never been in love. Or in a relationship for that matter. He didn’t get the whole thing with the butterflies and shaking knees.

“If you would spend some time trying to meet new people maybe then you would meet someone. Do you really expect the One to knock on your door Alec? When was the las time you went out and I don’t know.. had some fun?”

“I’m about to have fun right now, thank you very much for being concerned.”

“We are going to an art gallery to see Clary’s favourite uprising artist’s new works. It’s hardly falls into the category of fun. I meant partying. It’s New York for fuck sake. Endless possibilities to date, to party, to meet new people, to –“

“-to live, yes Izzy I know. I’ve heard it a time or twelve.” Alec sighed. He fucking hated how they always come back to this. His lack of social life. He just doesn’t get it. Izzy and Jace are more invested in his life than it would be ideal.

“Drop it Iz. I’m not in the mood for the talk right now. I just want to get there and get it over with.” He said while parking near the front. He could already see Jace, Clary and Simon all gathered up near the main entrance.

He wasn’t sure why they all need to be there. They could have made it into a date just the two of them, but no, Jace thought it would be more fun to bring Alec and Izzy so he doesn’t suffer along for a few hours staring some boring ass pictures about a fruit bowl or some old chair with a dirt cloth over it. Alec never understood art itself. He surely loves photography, but he always looked at the two things as completely different fields. Taking a picture is like grabbing a moment. Choosing a single moment to be captured was special. Painting some random shit gathered around was just dull. Pointless. But he wasn’t brave enough to actually say it out loud, so when Clary and Jace invited him he said yes straight away, he thought about saying some shitty lie about he having other plans but he never does so it would have been totally obvious. So, he was here and there is no going back, not for another couple of hours at least. He had no idea what the fuck they could do for hours, like apparently there were only 12 paintings, how long were they supposed to look at one without blinking? He should pull Jace aside to ask him, he would probably spare a few seconds of his attention at each in that way he would be done in like 5 minutes.

He hated this already and they were still outside.

“Heeeey.” Clary said smiling at them. The excitement in her eyes made Alec to raise an eyebrow. How could someone get this hyped up about some paintings? He had no idea.

“Hey guys, sorry for being late. Someone – he looked at Alec to make the obvious more obvious – was taking his time to get ready.”

“No worries you got here and that’s the main thing, we can finally head in I am so excited. The guy is super talented, it’s like he has some magic to make things look stunning and brilliant and..” Clary suddenly stopped biting her lip anxiously.

“Hey babe, breath, we all know how excited you are, it’s okay. If you’re happy I’m happy, you don’t need to hide it. If you want to go on and speak about how much you love this random dude, then by all means, go ahead.” Jace shoot a comforting smile at her girlfriend while he squeezed her tiny hands. It was somehow cute to see Jace so happy with one girl. They only started to date a few months ago, at first Alec loved teasing Jace about settling down and dropping his bad boy image, but in reality, he was proud at him. He was okay with Clary as well. She was a bit annoying and too much sometimes, but he liked her. She was definitely good for his brother.

“Okay let’s go inside, I’ve been standing here for the past 20 minutes and I don’t think I can stand still for much longer.” Simon said with a grin. The guy literally didn’t have a switch. He was always going on full speed. First Alec thought he was on speed or something then it turned out he had ADHD. It made sense, but it didn’t make things better. Just because it wasn’t his fault, he still managed to get on Alec’s nerves every damn time they hung out together.

With that they all headed inside. Clary was like a child in a candy shop. She was standing still and looked around with some odd expression on her face. Alec couldn’t name it for sure, but it somehow looked like passion. He knew how much she enjoyed watching and creating art.

“Oh la laaa” Izzy said with a tone that made Alec wanting to shoot himself in the head. He quickly grabbed her sister by the arm and pulled her back before she attacks whoever she was about to attack.

“Fuck Izzy, I can’t believe you. It’s an art gallery, we are not here to date but to look at some shit and go home.” He lowered his voice looking at her sister in disbelief.

“Don’t be such a buzzkill. I just wanted to talk to that guy over there and stop acting like some grandad..” She said smirking at her brother. Alec rolled his eyes but let her go eventually. Her sister can still surprise him and not necessarily in a good way.  
He watched as Izzy walked over to a guy. He had darker skin tone, maybe he was Spanish or something at looked like he was attending at a funeral. He left his eyes on them for a couple of seconds and turned away once he acknowledged that her sister successfully found some company to kill the time.

He scanned the room to look for the rest of the team. They were already looking at a picture. He almost burst out in a laugh. Simon was standing next to Clary looking at her with a dreamy smile while she pointed enthusiastically at different parts of the picture. Jace on the other hand looked like he tasted something bitter, like shit. He knew his brother wasn’t a big fan of arts but seeing how much he suffered was hilarious. If someone would have told Alec half a year ago, that his brother falls for someone this badly he would have paid for the guy’s medicines to save him from his delusions. Turns out love is blind and deaf.

He looked around hoping to spot a chair or something to sit down. He planned to spend the rest of time on his phone playing candy crush or whatever he founds entertaining enough for the purpose.  
The gallery was smallish. There was an area designed for reception. There was a huge white gloss desk at the left side of the main door. A blonde woman was sitting behind the computer, making some phone calls and sending emails perhaps, not that Alec could tell from where he was standing, nor that he cared too much.  
There was a stair leading upstairs. There was a half level created almost like an inside balcony along the back wall. He decided to head up there so he is not so much in sight and can easily keep an eye on his friends from above.

He was about to start making his way to the stairs when he spotted Jace walking towards him.

“Have a look at those damn pictures for god’s sake. It’s bad enough Izzy already left to look for a boy toy, Clary is worried that maybe you guys hate the whole thing. All I ask is to look at the paintings for a few minutes.” He said it in a lowered voice through his teeth. He only forgot to add the _‘or I’ll kill you’_ part at the end. Alec grimaced and let his brother to drag him to the first painting.

To Alec’s surprise it wasn’t a fruit bowl neither a chair. It was like a tornado. The artist only used three colours against the black canvas: grey, white and red. They were moving together in a swirl touching each other. Sometimes it started as one colour and finished as a new one. He couldn’t tell where they touched, like they were all blending into each other.  
He had to look away at the second he read the title. He could feel the heat in his cheeks. How pathetic does he have to be to blush because of a silly painting? He moved to the next one and tried not to look back at the silver letters displaying the title _Orgasm._

The next ten pictures were all similar. Not full of sexual references but abstract. Full of vibrating colours and odd shapes.  
All having different titles, Nightmare, Need or Betrayal.  
He had to admit, even if just to himself that he liked what he saw. It wasn’t like other paintings, the ones he was expecting to see. There was something else about them. They were special.

Once he looked all the eleven of them, he decided to head up to the balcony.  
He was surprised to see that there was a twelfth hanging on the wall by itself. It was bigger than the other ones and probably his favourite one.  
There were colours, so many colours. It looked like the artist picked up a colour and splashed it repeatedly over the canvas. He could see when the paint met the canvas and made a splotch. Some of them bigger than the others, depending on the force. There were lines going everywhere. Smaller dotes here and there like the artist sprinkled the white paint just to slightly add some light to his relatively dark art piece.  
It was mesmerizing and beautiful.

“Quite a mess, right?” Someone said suddenly and Alec almost jumped. He didn’t realise someone joined him. Like he went deaf for a few minutes. And blind. Apparently. The man next to him was breathtakingly beautiful. He was slightly shorter than him with darker skin and Asian features, but still tall in general. His hair was styled upwards and it was dark. Almost black with a touch of red. He was wearing a dark burgundy suit that followed his figure, showing off his skinny waist. His trousers were black and definitely tighter than what would be called ideal or comfortable. He was wearing a silver shirt under his suit, casually leaving a few buttons open at the neck where he spotted at least three necklaces. His eyes were lined with black and a touch of silver glitter. Alec blinked a few times. He felt like he fell from one spell to another. His brain went short circuited.

“What?” He blurred out and banged his head in an imaginary brick wall straight away. _Well done Alec, that is exactly how an idiot with zero intelligence would answer._

“The painting “the man pointed towards the picture with his hand covered in rings “is a bit of a mess.” He looked at Alec waiting for a response.

“Well..I..uh.. I don’t.. I don’t think it’s a mess.” He stuttered out finally. He really begged for the ground to open up and swallow him. Like now.

“And why is that?” The man asked with a playful smile and didn’t break the eye contact. His eyes were gorgeous. Brown with a hint of yellow and bronze.  
Alec took a deep breath. He needed to get his shit together if he wasn’t planning to humiliate himself any further.

“It might looks like it, but I believe there is something more hiding in this than just a big clutter.”

“How so?”

“Well…It might be just me.. but I see feelings, emotions in it.” He licked his lips and broke his gaze from the picture and looked at the man next to him.

“Tell me what you see.” He said and looked straight into his eyes leaving him with a dry mouth and sweaty palms. He managed to break the eye contact and his attention was again, back on the canvas.

“I see different colours.. there is so much black in there representing loneliness, pain and fear. There are shades of reds, love and affection.. maybe a bit of passion. But it is faded like as if it would only be a memory of it, a ghost of a past feeling. The blue that shows up here and there, like it is taking control over the negative feelings, fighting against the darkness. There is dark green as well. Apparently green is the colour of wisdom. I believe the artist is learning with every day. We all do. Maybe he learns to let things go, to accept them, to use them to grow stronger and better. And the white dots. They are so tiny, like you only realise they are there if you look close enough. It’s so easy to miss it, you only acknowledge it if you want to, but it’s there for sure. The hope. It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel, showing that there is always hope, no matter how dark times you live, there is a way out of it.” He suddenly closed his mouth shut, biting the inside of his lips. He didn’t dare to look at the man next to him.  
“I…I just.. ramble here as if – “

“Who are you?” the man asked with a shock on his face. Alec opened and closed his mouth a few times. _Nice one Alec.. keep doing it and maybe even throw yourself on the floor and start jerking and he might leave you alone thinking you are a fucking fish._

“I’m…-“

“Alec, here you are. Clary finally finished with her admiring session, we are all dying to get some..oh.” Izzy stopped when realised Alec wasn’t alone. “Hey.”

“Hello.” The stranger smiled. That was probably the sweetest smile Alec have ever seen.

“Alec are you ready to go or need a few more minutes to admire…this piece of art?” Izzy asked with a shit eating grin while winking at her brother.  
If Alec felt awkward during today, then this moment would call for a new word. He wanted to die, _yesterday._ He felt his skin burning as if his blood was replaced by lava.

“No..I..um..We..Yeah.” Izzy bit in her lips and tried not to laugh at his brother acting like an absolute idiot.

“Yeah?”  
“Yeah..totally.” he nodded enthusiastically, having little to know idea what he said yes to, but he wanted to be out here so badly.

“Well then, it was a pleasure to meet you Alec.” The man said with a genuine smile, if he realised how awkward Alec felt, he showed no sign of it and Alec was so damn grateful for it.

“Yeah, nice to meet you.” He said licking his lips already backing away, ready to flee the fuck away from this gallery as far as he can get.

“Byeee.” Izzy waved casually before grabbing Alec by the arm towards the stairs.

“Oh. My. God. Spill. Who was he? What were you two talking about? Did he invite you out? Did you give him your number?” Alec was unable to follow the one hundred question her sister threw at him at once.

“Izzy. Calm down. Nothing happened. We exchanged a few words about the painting. That’s it. No numbers, no invitations. Jeezz.. I don’t even know his name.” He said looking at her sister like she had two heads.

“Ohh.. why not?” She asked totally confused.

“I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself and neither he did. And then you marched in out of the blue.” He would lie if he would say he wasn’t desperate to know the man’s name at least. He was beautiful. He can’t deny that not as if he would want to.

“Well..that sucks. He was really delicious looking.” She said with a teasing tone.

“Don’t even start into it. I thought you already found someone today.” He rolled his eyes as he remembered the guy from earlier on.

“Raphael.” Izzy nodded as she pushed the main door open. “Unlike you, I have his number.”

“Good for you.” He said while he shrugged his sister’s hand off.

“Ready to eat?” Jace asked pushing himself away from the wall and holding his girlfriend’s hand.

“Aye.. I’m starving.” Simon said already on his way to god knows where exactly.

Alec looked back through the glass door to take a quick glimpse of the people inside. He wasn’t looking for anyone in particular. Nah. Not at all.  
He ducked his head a bit to be able to see the balcony and was surprised to see that the gorgeous stranger from earlier was in the exact same spot he left him.

Looking at the piece of art in front of him.


	2. The truth hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His thoughts were suddenly distracted by the buzz of his phone. He glanced down to see an incoming text from Jace.
> 
> _Hey man, we are leaving now. Apparently, Izzy is already there cause she is meeting some guy. Do you want a lift or we’ll meet there?_
> 
> He quickly sent back a text saying he would meet them there before he opened a different contact.
> 
>  _Who are you meeting?_
> 
> He was about to send it to her sister than changed his mind. There was no point asking her because he will find out within 20 minutes anyway, plus he always says to her to keep her nose out of his business so doing it to her now would be like preaching. With that he picked up his stuff and closed his apartment door to head down to the bar. It was a 15 minute walk from his flat and a bit of walking never hurt anyone, plus his confidence about the night started to fade and he desperately needed some air to clear his head.

Love. He heard it several times. He saw it. He listened it in songs, watched it in movies. But he never felt it. For Alec, love was like a myth. Like Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. Something kids believe in because it’s so magical and part of the childhood. Alec pretty much thought the same thing about love. It was something adults wanted to believe in, and they did just to make their lives a bit better.  


He was never a believer. Not even as a kid. Not for long at least. He realised the truth about Santa and all by the age of four. Then when he was sixteen, he perceived that love was a big fat bullshit as well. He loved to think it was a coincidence and nothing to do with the fact he realised he was attracted to his own gender at the same time. First, he thought he might be just not as mature as his peers and that’s why he wasn’t drooling over the girls in class but soon got face to face with the truth when a girl kissed him. It was just wrong. So wrong. The girl was lovely, and kind hearted but Alec felt nothing. Well that’s not true, he felt guilty as hell. He felt like fooling people. Fooling himself. And at the age of 24 he was still okay with fooling everyone, himself included. 

Well almost everyone, Izzy couldn’t be fooled and to be fair Alec was somehow relieved that at least one person out of the seven billion was there to carry his secret with him. For years he felt drowning in his lies, he was really creative to ditch all the unwanted questions about dating and having a girlfriend. He could have tricked his sister as well, but deep down he desperately wanted to share it with someone. He had to talk about it, he couldn’t live in a life where he constantly plays a role. So when his sister asked it one night while they were cuddling up on the sofa at his new apartment he silently nodded, avoiding her sister’s look.  


Izzy didn’t say anything just hugged him. She hugged him until he broke down and kept hugging him till he built himself up again. He eventually told Jace because there was no way one sibling can know and the other can’t. Jace reacted the exact way as Izzy, he provided emotional support and unconditional love.  
Once he came out to his siblings and very close friends, his siblings thought things about his love life would change but they quickly realised that being gay was the reason he had no such thing as love life. 

He had no idea how to handle the whole thing. He was always a shy sort of awkward kid and it wasn’t helping his case at all. He wasn’t the type of person who would initiate a conversation and so far, no one seemed to be interested in him enough to take on that job. 

Izzy tried to come up with ideas such as visiting a gay bar or joining an online dating app, but Alec’s answer was a fucking massive no way. There was no way in hell he would do such a thing. Not for a million-dollar, god he would rather die alone than put himself into such an awkward, humiliating and most importantly pointless situation. 

Despite his coming-out to a handful of people he still was very much closeted and he was happy the way things were and didn’t plan to make changes any time soon, if ever. 

It was Friday night. A few days passed since their visit to the art gallery. His thoughts occasionally went back to the beautiful stranger. Okay maybe a bit more than occasionally. He wished he could’ve found out his name at least. Seemed as luck turned its back on him. 

He was getting ready for a night out. Surprisingly he wasn’t totally against the idea of leaving his house. God, he had such a fucked-up week. He couldn’t see the office’s door by the huge pile of paper work on his desk. He hoped if he would stare it long enough it would just suddenly vanish into thick air but had no such luck. He signed so much paper during these few days that now if someone handed him a pen and paper it came like a damn reflex to him. All he wanted tonight was to have a few drinks until he forgets how much he hates his job. 

He was standing in front of the mirror making sure his hair doesn’t look too messy. He wasn’t a big fan of different hair products, so he usually just washed it and dried it then let it live a free life. 

His clothing was nothing special, black jeans, black boots and a dark grey shirt. At least it wasn’t black. Izzy should appreciate the effort although he knew she wouldn’t. He tried to argue with his sister that he wore white shirts to work but it turned out that didn’t count. Therefore, every special occasion calls for new clothes – at least in Izzy’s point of view – so no matter what, she always gets new pieces for Alec which are always colourful. Deep purple, dark green, navy or even burgundy, Alec was honestly grateful that Izzy stick to dark ones. He thought about wearing one of the new ones he got recently but he already agreed to this night out without much convincing so he didn’t want to dress to impress, not as he could really impress anyone. Baby steps. 

His thoughts were suddenly distracted by the buzz of his phone. He glanced down to see an incoming text from Jace. 

_Hey man, we are leaving now. Apparently, Izzy is already there cause she is meeting some guy. Do you want a lift or we’ll meet there?_

He quickly sent back a text saying he would meet them there before he opened a different contact. 

_Who are you meeting?_

He was about to send it to her sister than changed his mind. There was no point asking her because he will find out within 20 minutes anyway, plus he always says to her to keep her nose out of his business so doing it to her now would be like preaching. With that he picked up his stuff and closed his apartment door to head down to the bar. It was a 15 minute walk from his flat and a bit of walking never hurt anyone, plus his confidence about the night started to fade and he desperately needed some air to clear his head. 

Alec kinda liked the Hunter’s Moon. It was popular enough but not too crowded, the drinks were amazing apparently, he always drank coke or beer so couldn’t really tell, it was cheap as well so overall it was an okay place in his opinion. 

“Alec, over here!” he spotted Izzy once he walked in through the doors. She was sitting at one of the bigger tables, accompanied by the depressed looking Spanish guy from the gallery. He imagined what would have happened if his sister arrived a few minutes later. Maybe he would have a company tonight as well. Maybe a date. He shook his head and headed towards the two of them before his thoughts sucked him in like a fucking black whole. 

“Hey.” He hugged his sister and faced the guy who already offered a hand to him. 

“Hello. Raphael, nice to meet you.” 

“Alec, Izzy’s big brother. Yea, same here” He shook his hand and nodded a bit as well. He looked alright although he didn’t seem to be in a much better mood than a few days ago. He was wondering if he had some problems going on or he just simply had a resting bitch face. 

Alec hated these situations, he never had any idea what to say. He hoped the rest of the team will be here shorty. 

“So.. Raphael… - he cleared his throat a bit awkwardly – how come you were visiting the gallery?” 

“Well, one of my best friend was the artist whose works were on display. He literally black mailed me to go because he needed someone to support him in case it turns out to be an epic failure. Clearly all of our other friends were busy, I’m not the best one with a shoulder to cry on.” 

“I assume your services weren’t needed after words.” Izzy said with a giggle, not as she spared to much time to look at the pictures but Clary couldn't talk about anything else for a day or two. 

“No, although it would have been better than the other alternative.” He said with a sigh. Alec somehow felt like he was missing something there. Izzy just smirked at Raphael, who responded with a smile. Oh! He was capable of smiling. Good to know.  


“What…other..alternative?” Alec asked a few second later, his curiously winning over his awkwardness.  


“I had to offer my ears to listen to him going on and on about someone he met. Honest to god apparently, they only spent a few minutes together, but he managed to speak about it for a good hour. Only for that long because I got out of the car at a red light and rather walked to the nearest subway to get home.”  


Both Alec and Izzy had a good laugh on that. It wasn’t the story itself that he found funny, but the way Raphael presented it. With all the eyerolls, sighs and facial expressions. He was sure as hell that he over exaggerated the whole story but didn’t care much.  


“Hey guys, sorry for running late.” Jace showed up suddenly with Clary and their forever third-wheel, Simon. They all introduced themselves to Raphael then Alec offered to get drinks for the team.  


To his sincere surprise Raphael only asked for a glass of tonic. Simon did asked about it but Raphael said he wasn’t a drinker and they quickly dropped the issue.  


“Here we go, the two beers for the men – he handed a beer to Jace and place one in front of himself – the tonic for the abstinent, and the cocktails for the ladies.” He tried to keep a straight face while he handed the cocktail for Simon.  


They all laughed out loudly while Simon murmured something that sounded like _ha-ha_.  


The night started surprisingly well. They talked and laughed and even Raphael seemed to loosen up a bit. It turned out he was an attorney and worked along the NYPD quiet often. Izzy was surprised they never met before, then Raphael confessed that he was actually more than grateful for that considering her job. Simon found it so funny that he spit his drink full on Jace whose face was priceless. Alec couldn’t remember the last time he laughed that much, he had to wipe his tears after and needed a few deep breaths before he could finally stop himself from laughing.  


Unfortunately, Alec knew if something seemed too good to be true… well then it probably was.  


As the hours passed and the number of consumed drinks increased, he suddenly found their friends all paired up, even Simon managed to bump into one of his old childhood friend, Margaret or something.  


Now they were all chatting somehow intimately with one on one and he just starred at his beer in front of him. He was happy for their happiness but couldn’t hiss the little voice in his head that was currently demanding that happiness for himself as well.  


Despite his thoughts being distracted pretty much the whole night he found himself thinking about the guy from the gallery again. He focused so fucking hard not to imagine what ifs.  


_What if he would’ve asked his name.  
_

__

_What if they could’ve talked more._  


_What if they would’ve sat in somewhere to get lunch afterwards._  


_What if he would’ve asked for his number._  


He drank the remaining – by now, piss warm – beer in one go and stood up to grab his jacket.  


“Ehm.. I head home. It was fun, I enjoyed it but I think I should call it a night.” He said looking at the others.  


“You sure bro?” Jace said and for a second Alec saw something in his eyes that almost looked like guilt. Izzy stood up suddenly with a weird expression on her face.  


“Don’t go yet, we didn’t even played pool. I can’t wait to beat your sorry asses.” She said with an enthusiastic teasing tone in her voice.  


“Next time sis, I am really tired and in my current state I probably wouldn’t even find the pool table.” He laughed at her and it was true, he could feel a bit dizzy and wanted some fresh air.  


“Sure?” Jace asked while holding out a hand towards Alec.  


“100%.” They gave each other the bro hug and Alec said good bye to the rest as well before heading home.  


In the next moment he found himself in the darkness of his living room.  


The only light was coming from the street lights outside, creating even more shadows in the already dark room.  


The door quietly closed behind him, his hands firmly gripping his keys. There was a strange feeling slowly crawling up in his throat and settling down as a lump stopping him from breathing freely making his breaths shaky and unsteady.  


He clenched his jaws and shut his eyes tight.  


In the middle of his apartment, in the dark, where no one could see him or hear him Alec let out a painful groan and let the tears streaming down his face. Here all alone.. he wasn’t afraid to confess how terribly and hopelessly lonely he was. The emptiness that welcomed him every time he stepped through the door.  


_It was so quite there.. and he felt so cold… his flat no longer, felt like home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely people!
> 
> Feel free to share your thoughts on the new chapter in the comments, it means a lot to me.  
> Kudos and bookmarks are always appreciated!  
> :)
> 
> Enjoy!


	3. The 12th painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys!  
> God.. I didn't plan to bring CH3 this soon.. but oh well.  
> I won't be able to update till the end of next week so look at it as a sorry gift. :)  
> Feel free to share your opinions in the comments.  
> Kudos and bookmarks are always appreciated.  
> Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> “You know what? Now that you spent the whole week working your ass off, we are going to celebrate.” She said it with a nicer tone. She probably knew Alec well enough to know that if there is anything bothering him, he will come to her eventually, once he feels ready to talk about it.
> 
>  
> 
> “Celebrating what? That I’m becoming a workaholic?” He raised his brows. He knew well enough that his siblings didn’t need particular reason to party, but it sounded a bit off even to him. 
> 
>  
> 
> “No, you idiot. We should cry about that but definitely not encourage it.” She laughed and Alec couldn’t stop himself from smiling a bit on that.
> 
>  
> 
> “Raphael’s friend. The artist. He is throwing a party to celebrate his success at the gallery. Tomorrow is gonna be the last day for the exhibition.”
> 
>  
> 
> “Ehh.. I don’t know Iz...

The next week Alec needed distraction. He dived himself into work, even volunteering for staying in longer and coming in on the weekend. His spontaneous mental break down on Friday night made him have a constant one on one fight with his brain and heart. One second he was ready to conquer the world.. well New York at least, the next moment he faked a sickness to his siblings over the phone so they wouldn’t come over. In the morning, all he wanted was some company by noon he hated everyone who dared to breath the same air as him. It was really confusing and mentally exhausting to have these ups and downs.

_“Hey big bro, I’m off today, do you want to meet up for lunch? X ”_

_“Hey man. Are you up for a movie night? We could watch that new marvel film.”_

_“Hey, its Simon. The band having a gig at the Hunter’s Moon, I told to others and they all up for it. Told them I would ask you too. Let me know, sure.”_

_“Alec, its Clary. How are you?”_

His phone was buzzing with these and similar texts the whole damn week. By Wednesday he felt like fucking Beyoncé with all the notifications. He appreciated his friends’ effort to get him out a bit, but he honestly wasn’t in the mood at all. The Friday night, apart from the end of it, was actually really good, but he was scared of ending up breaking down in front of them. He hated bottling up his feelings but also, he had no idea how to explain what he was going through. Fuck, he didn’t even know what was behind all of this. He was always happy on his own, sure every now and on when he spotted a hot guy, he thought about approaching them and starting a conversation, but due to his lack of charisma in that sense it always stayed just that, an idea that never happened. 

His phone was ringing, buzzing under a huge pile of paper work. He carefully moved the stack to the other side of his table to check who was calling. It was Izzy, again. She called him twice today already. As much as he was avoiding this talk, he knew if he didn’t answer, sooner or later the police would kick in his door. At the end of the day Izzy was still working at the NYPD, she could surely pull a few strings to chase him up. 

“Hello sister.” He picked it up before the call would connect to his voicemail. 

“Don’t hello sister to me. Where the fuck have you been? I was worried sick. You hardly talked to any of us since last Friday.” He loved how straight forward she was. Not now tho, but in general. 

“I was busy with work and all.” He scratched the back of his neck while laying back in his huge office chair. 

“Cut the bullshit Alec. I don’t buy it again. You got away with it the whole week but its fucking Saturday. You never work on a Saturday. So what was the reason you couldn’t answer your phone the whole morning?” She said it in one go and Alec truly wondered how she was able to say that all with one breath. 

“Believe it or not, I’m actually at work at the moment. They needed someone to finish up the paperwork cause the deadline is tonight and there is still loads to do.” It was true, well part of it at least, there was a lot to finish but the deadline wasn’t till the next Saturday. 

“You know what? Now that you spent the whole week working your ass off, we are going to celebrate.” She said it with a nicer tone. She probably knew Alec well enough to know that if there is anything bothering him, he will come to her eventually, once he feels ready to talk about it. 

“Celebrating what? That I’m becoming a workaholic?” He raised his brows. He knew well enough that his siblings didn’t need particular reason to party, but it sounded a bit off even to him. 

“No, you idiot. We should cry about that but definitely not encourage it.” She laughed and Alec couldn’t stop himself from smiling a bit on that. 

“Raphael’s friend. The artist. He is throwing a party to celebrate his success at the gallery. Tomorrow is gonna be the last day for the exhibition.” 

“That’s all good, but I don’t see why we are supposed to celebrate along with him. We don’t even know this guy. God, we hardly know Raphael.” He had no clue why someone would invite a bunch of strangers to share his own happiness over his personal success. 

“Apparently the guy loves partying so for him this is just a special reason to do so. And he believes that the more the merrier so he was really excited to meet us but according to Raphael, usually half of Brooklyn is there so..” She said with a neutral tone. Alec honestly couldn’t get that. For him a birthday was probably the only legitimate reason to throw a party. He couldn’t imagine people randomly doing it with no apparent reason. 

“Ehh.. I don’t know Iz. This whole thing doesn’t sound so appealing to me.” He said with a sigh and closed his eyes. The last thing he wanted right now to meet some stuck-up guy who thought the world revolves around him just because he threw together some paint. Not even mentioning the people who would be there, getting drunk and all in a loft somewhere in Brooklyn. The idea of being surrounded by a crowd full of strangers made him nervous already, so he knew for sure that no matter what we won’t be attending this party. 

“Nothing sounds appealing to you that involves other people and being somewhere else than your flat.” She said and Alec could see the sad smile on his sister’s face. He felt a bit guilty for constantly pulling himself out of these invitations but at the same time, there was no point for him to go just to leave after half an hour. 

“If what Raphael says is true, the guy is a social butterfly. I’m sure as hell there will be other parties. I’ll go the next time.” He promised and meant it. The whole thing was way too last minute for him. He normally preferred to prepare himself mentally like a week in advance. 

“I will hold you to your word.” She said with a serious voice, but Alec knew that inside she was smiling, knowing how awkward he is about going out. 

“We are leaving around 9ish tho. So if you change your mind just text me or call me. Everyone would love if you come.” 

“I know, but just not tonight.” He looked up to see his boss standing at the door looking at him. 

“I-I gotta go. Talk to you later. Love you.” He said and hung up before his sister could even respond. 

“I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to make phone calls during working hours, my sister just called me to-“ 

“Alec, stop. There is nothing wrong with it. It’s Saturday. I can’t remember ever seeing you on your phone at work, so I won’t bite your head off for making a phone call and taking a few minutes break.” He said with a sincere smile. 

“Oh, okay. Thank you, Mr Fell.” He said smiling shyly. 

The man nodded and moved to his table still smiling. 

“Why don’t you go home? We have the whole next week to finish before the deadline. I don’t even know why you wanted to come in to keep working on it.” 

“Well. I.. ehm.. I had nothing better to do, this at least keeps me busy.” He said biting his lips awkwardly. He was only in his 20’s but acted like he was coming fucking 60 tomorrow. 

“It’s hard to believe that there is literally nothing better to do on the weekend than buckle over some paper work. God, I can only imagine better things.” He said tilting his back and looking up at the ceiling with a sigh. Alec chuckled and felt a bit pathetic. Fuck, he _was_ pathetic. 

„Anyways. I will have to leave the office no later than in an hour. I’m spending the night with a friend so I want to have time to get ready. You wouldn’t mind closing, would you? Unless you changed your mind and would rather leave as well.” He smiled and Alec could see something on the older man’s face. He wasn’t sure if it was hope or pity. Probably both. He was right and Alec knew it deep down, no one in the right state of mind would find working on a Saturday more appealing than doing literally anything else. 

“I will probably leave as well. My siblings try to convince me about a party or something for tonight, so I bet get prepared.” He said while standing up and putting his stuff away. He quickly tidied the papers on his desk before grabbing his jacket and saying good bye to his boss. 

He was standing in the car park looking for his car keys. What he said earlier was a big fat lie but he didn’t want to appear any more lame. He was sure his boss already had some odd opinion about him so he saw no point of strengthening it any further. 

He dig his phone out of his pocket once he was sitting in his car. Putting it on loud speaker and waiting for it to ring out. One, twice.. 

“Alec, hey. What happened earlier?” Izzy said and Alec could hear the worry in her voice. 

“Hey. Sorry, my boss walked in on me and I didn’t want him to get pissed.” 

“Ahh. I see. That’s alright. I’m sure you do this every day, he could get used to it by now.” She said with a mocking voice that made Alec laugh and roll his eyes. 

“Anyway, I was wondering if you would be up for lunch. I could ask Jace and Clary.” He said while carefully driving onto the main road. 

“Actually we are about to meet up at that chinese place a few blocks away from the Hunter’s Moon. What you call it… the Jade’s wolf. 

“Aye, I know which one that is. Give me 20 mins or so and I’ll be there.” He said while stopping at the red light. 

“Great. Can’t wait to see you. I missed you so much.” She was clearly happy on the other end of the phone which made Alec to smile. He loved how strong their love was towards each other even if Alec was acting like a moron the whole week. 

“I missed you too. I’ll see you soon.” 

“See you in a bit.” She said and hung up. 

That 20 mins turned into 30. Alec hated the traffic in New York it was absolute mayhem 24-7. They were all sitting in a big booth, talking and chatting away about their week and things in general when Clary spoke up. 

“Guys, you have no idea how excited I am about tonight. I finally gonna meet the man behind those paintings. Since the first time I saw his works I was dying to meet him. He is absolutely amazing. Apparently he will become the best artist in New York by the end of the year. The exhibition we saw was a private one. Only people who had the connections could attend. His works are normally displayed in larger galleries with hundreds of people and journalists. I only got invited by pure luck and tonight I can meet him in person! Can you imagine? Like meeting your idol for real.” 

“Will his paintings be sold or something?” Simon asked while stirring the straw in his milkshake. 

“No.” Izzy said before Clary could react. 

“That collection will not be displayed anywhere else. Those are really important for him. They were inspired by personal… experiences. So.. no. No one will ever see them again. 

“And how do you know this much?” Jace leaned over the table with a wide grin on his face. 

“A little birdie..told me.” She said with a grimace realising she probably said too much already. 

“Ahh… I know that specie.. It’s the Raphael bird.” Alec said who also leaned forward. 

“Shut up.” Iz said and waved with her hand before leaning back into her seat. 

“If I could I would buy all the twelve paintings for myself.” Clary said with a serious face and looked at her empty glass before taking Jace’s. 

“Twelve? There were only eleven. And you call yourself his number one fan.” Simon laughed. 

“Ehm.. no. There were twelve. There was one upstairs as well. I can’t remember the title.” Alec said frowning his brows. He couldn’t recall the title of the painting no matter how hard he tried. 

“You can’t remember, because it didn’t have a title.” Clary said with a look towards Simon that somehow said _‘fuck off’._

“What do you mean it didn’t have one?” Jace asked confused. 

“Well.. the little birdie said that his friend didn’t know what the picture was resembling so he decided to leave it without a name.” Izzy shrugged. 

“Odd.” 

“Not necessarily. I mean all the others were named after emotions, right? Maybe he didn’t know what he was feeling at the time or didn’t want to admit his feelings. Who knows?” Alec said and tried to avoid any eye contact with anyone so just started at his abandoned drink. He knew what it felt like, not knowing your feelings or not wanting to admit them to anyone. 

“Maybe.” Izzy said in an uncaring manner. 

“So are you coming tonight then?” Jace looked towards Alec and suddenly all four of them were looking at him. 

“Ehm..no. Sorry. I’m not in the mood for a party. I just go home and sleep probably for the rest of the weekend. I’m totally knackered.” 

“Okay, but if you change your mind text me asap.” Jace said with a reassuring smile. He felt guilty, knowing how much they all wanted him to come along but he really didn’t want to. Not this time. Not tonight. 

They spent another half hour chatting away and talking about random stuff before they all said good bye. Well, Alec said good bye to them, the rest probably headed to Izzy’s place to get ready. 

Once he got home he kicked off his shoes and threw his jacket on the sofa. He wasn’t lying about being tired, in fact he ended up falling asleep on the couch. It was dark by the time he woke up. He checked his phone for the time, it was a bit after 11pm. There was a text from Izzy saying that he should really come over but he ignored it and went to take a shower. 

He enjoyed the warm water hitting his exposed skin. The water drops running down his chest and back, caressing him so gently. He closed his eyes and could see the man in front of him, so vividly in his memory, like they only met yesterday. The gorgeous eyes, that caramel skin, the skinny body, those tight trousers around his legs. He let out a sigh, moving his hand from his neck down to his chest. He imagined holding the man in a tight embrace, kissing that soft skin, tracing his finger tips along his side. His hand slipped down to his half erect member. He bit his lower lip to stop him from moaning while he worked himself towards the pleasure. A loud moan escaped his lips once the pleasure hit him. His knees were shaking, and he had to lean on the wall to stop himself from collapsing. It was so intense he needed a good few minutes before he stopped panting and could actually walk to his bedroom. He was a young man, touching himself wasn’t an uncommon thing, but this time it was different. He never thought about someone he knew, not as he would know the man, and it made him blush. 

The next day was nothing remarkable, he got up, went to get some donuts from the coffee shop nearby and spent his morning doing some chores around the house. He thought about calling his siblings but knowing them they were probably still sleeping or dying with hangover. Either or he decided to keep himself busy without them. There was a thought in the back of his mind since their lunch in the Jade’s wolf. If what the others said was true, today would be the last chance to see those paintings and he wanted to see them so badly. 

Before he could stop himself he was standing outside the small gallery. He took a deep breath and went in. There was no one in the gallery apart from the receptionist from the last time. She stood up as soon as she spotted Alec. 

“Excuse me sir. This exhibition is private and closed down 5 minutes ago.” She said with an unnegotiable tone. 

“Hello. I’m sorry. I was here last week, and I wanted to come back to have another look. I knew it was ending today but I wasn’t aware of the exact time. Would you allow me a quick five minutes to have a look and I will be out of your hair straight after.” He said with a newfound confidence. 

“I am really not supposed to. If my boss founds out, I let you in I could get in trouble.” She said piercing him with her blue eyes. 

“But I have a few paperwork to finish. You have 3 minutes.” She said with a smile and Alec could swear it was somehow flirtatious. He responded with a nod and a thankful smile and made his way to the paintings on the ground level. There were really eleven of them, all named: Nightmares, Betrayal, Need, Loneliness, Orgasm, Hatred, Confusion, Addiction, Emptiness, Love and Coldness. 

He had to restrain himself from touching them. He wanted to run his finger across the canvas. 

He walked up the stairs, he wanted to leave his favourite to last. He had a quick look to make sure the woman was still busy behind the desk. 

He raised his hand and very slowly let one of his fingertips to touch the canvas. He gasped when he heard someone clearing his throat behind him. He moved his hand from the painting as it was burning suddenly and turned around just to find himself face to face with the beautiful stranger. 

“No one is allowed to touch these paintings, not even pretty boys.” He said seriously but Alec could see his eyes smiling. The voice sent shivers down his body. 

“I…I’m sorry. I didn’t…I don’t usually touch things I shouldn’t.” he felt like a child who has been caught eating chocolate before lunch. 

“This painting must have made some serious impression then..” He walked closer to Alec until he was less than a few feet close. 

“I never got a chance to properly introduce myself the other day, I’m Magnus Bane.” He said with a smile offering a hand. 

Alec swallowed and could feel his mouth go instantly dry. 

“Alec, Alec Lightwood.” He shook his hand, feeling the soft, warm skin under his touch. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, _Alexander_.” No one in years called him like that and it caught him off guard, he could feel the heat creeping up his cheeks. 

“Mr Bane I’m sorry to interrupt. The guys are here to take the paintings.” The blonde woman from earlier, was now standing at the top of the stairs looking at them with wide eyes. Alec wasn’t sure if their still touching hands caused the odd expression or something else. Also, he was very confused why would she feel the need to let the man know about something like that. 

“Thank you, dear. I’ll be right there.” His gaze went back to Alec’s face then their hands. Alec suddenly felt really awkward, he had no idea what to say. He has been dreaming of this moment and now he was just standing there with his head down wanting to disappear. 

“I have to go unfortunately, but I love to meet again. Only if the feeling it mutual, of course.” Magnus said stepping back a few steps, Alec already missed the warmth of his hand in his. 

“I would love to.” He said a bit more enthusiastically then he originally intended to do so, making the man, Magnus smile with a broad smile. 

“I am more than happy to hear that. I need to go down, but I will text you.” He said with a wink. 

“Okay.” It was all Alec could say as the man turned around and walked down the stairs. He was standing frozen in his tracks. He couldn’t believe what has just happened, and he couldn’t believe how badly he fucked up his chance. He didn’t even give his number to Magnus. He can’t call him if he doesn’t know his number. _Idiot..Idiot..Idiot.._

To hide his disappointment, in case Magnus turns back or the woman, he turned towards the painting. His eyes went wide in shock. He started the art piece with an open mouth. 

On the very right bottom of the frame, silver letters displaying the new title: _Hope._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fun time for Alec. Not too detailed. :)


End file.
